Address by Mr Noel Treacy TD Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce At the official opening of the 4th Internet Business Conference On Wednesday 4th October 2000 at 9.00 am

I am delighted to be here to open the 4th Internet Business Conference. Recent figures available to us show that e-business awareness in Ireland is high.

• Almost 100% of Irish companies now use PCs
• 96% of Irish companies have access to the Internet
• 77% have a website
• 79% of Irish businesses use external e-mail frequently
• 91% have at least some staff with access to e-mail.
• 80% of Irish businesses now see information and computer technologies - known as ICTs as being essential or very important to their business
• 85% of CEOs and managing directors are now positively comfortable, with using a PC compared to 77% in 1999

This year - the first of the new millennium - has been a very important year for Ireland in the promotion of e-business, e-commerce and the Information Society. We have made considerable progress towards our objective of making Ireland a major e-commerce hub.

The Government recognised the need for a broad based approach to the new challenges presented by the Information Society. A comprehensive Action Plan was launched in January 1999 to ensure that we took full advantage of the opportunities available. The Plan identified a number of priority areas to be developed to ensure our global competitiveness in the new digital economy, including telecommunications infrastructure and costs, business awareness campaigns and effective regulation.

The recent agreement with Global Crossing providing Ireland with international broadband connectivity will enable us to provide up to 15 times the current international capacity out of Ireland at one tenth of the existing unit costs levels. We will become an integral part of a world-class communications chain running from the USA to Ireland and onwards to 24 European cities. Ireland’s connectivity has been further enhanced by the recently launched 360 Networks, Atlantic Project which involves the construction of a high-speed fibre optic cable system linking Canada, through the USA, onto Ireland, across to the UK, Europe and Asia. The network, known as the 360 Atlantic, which can handle up to 25 million simultaneous telephone calls to and from Ireland, will enter commercial service in the first quarter of 2001. Firms providing broadband services are vital to Ireland’s economic prosperity in the information age.

This network also represents another significant step towards realising our objectives of reducing costs for bandwidth and lowering the barriers to e-business. Ireland is now firmly "on-line" in the e-commerce development stakes. In addition to these projects, this Government’s e-commerce package will result in £700m worth of broadband infrastructure being rolled out to over 120 centres in 21 counties throughout our country.

The first public Internet kiosk on the Aran Islands was opened on Inis Mór last week and another Internet kiosk is due to be opened on Aranmor Island in Donegal this week. The days of being on the periphery are thankfully coming to an end! A key element in driving competition and reducing prices is unbundling the local loop and liberalising the "final mile" to allow access to the loop by all operators. This will help to lower costs. The Department of Public Enterprise will be introducing legislation soon, which will bring forward unbundling in Ireland.

The development agencies have a key role to play in the development of e-business awareness strategies for Irish SMEs. Both Enterprise Ireland and the City and County Enterprise Boards have developed e-business initiatives to tackle this issue. Awareness campaigns are also being undertaken by public private partnerships involving our Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Information Society Commission and representative bodies such as IBEC and ISME. I would advise all businesses but, in particular small businesses, to take advantage of the many awareness campaigns and other programmes now in place by contacting the State agencies, such as Enterprise Ireland, SFADCo and the city and county enterprise boards, and representative bodies such as IBEC and ISME. The window of opportunity is there. Seize it.

The year 2000 has been a watershed year in the adoption of far reaching e-commerce legislation in Ireland. E-commerce and e-business needs a secure regulatory framework. The Electronic Commerce Act 2000 has provided that secure framework. Ireland is one of the first jurisdictions anywhere in the world to adopt such far-reaching legislation. The new Act gives the same status to electronic signatures, electronic writing and electronic contracts as their paper based counterparts. It underpins and gives security to the new ways in which business is transacted over the Internet.

I would now like to outline some of the findings of a recent survey conducted by Amárach Consulting, which was published last week. The key finding is that Irish teenagers are racing ahead of older adults in their use of technology. A third of 12 - 14 year olds already surf the net, compared to a quarter of adults. Together with older teenagers and young adults they represent the leading generation in technology adoption here in Ireland. In addition, the survey found that mobile phone usage is as common among older children as it is among young adults. In addition young teenagers seem to be the group whose internet usage is growing the quickest. This in my opinion is evidence that our Government’s IT 2000 programme is having the desired effect, across the Country.

One surprising result of the study is the low level of interest in Banner advertising online. I am sure that the professionals in this field will be studying the implications of this finding.

These are some of the highlights of what has been an interesting year for Ireland in developing the Information Society. There is a lot more to come if we are to main the excellent start we have made. This Government are determined to play our part fully in ensuring that the Information Society becomes a reality and that its benefits are experienced throughout the entire Irish economy.